Live performance, 24-hours

Created by Nat Randall & Anna Breckon

breckonrandall.com

“One of the finest examples of independent Australian theatre in years.”

★★★★★ – The Guardian

THE SECOND WOMAN

The Second Woman is a 24-hour performance in which a female-identifying performer repeats a single scene 100 times with 100 men ranging in age, background and acting ability. The scene involves a couple negotiating a long-term relationship that has lost its creativity, romance and vitality.

The scene is shot on digital video, edited live and presented on a screen adjacent to the performance. While the stage offers a wide view of the action, the screen exhibits closeups of the performers, giving the audience access to the minute shifts in emotional expression. An audience member can watch the stage only, the screen only, or self-edit between the filmed and the live.

The Second Woman takes as its starting point the idea that emotions and identities are culturally and historically specific, and that gender identities are defined by, and produced through, emotional cultures and norms. Taking gender, as a particular relation to cultural power and privilege, as its focus, The Second Woman explores the ways in which gender privilege and power expresses itself through feeling.

CREDITS

Co-creators Nat Randall & Anna Breckon

Performed

in Naples, Italy (2024) by Euridice Axen

in Athens, Greece (2024) by Stefania Goulioti

in Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla, Spain (2024) by Maria Hervás

in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2024) by Georgina Verbaan

in London, UK (2023) by Ruth Wilson
in New York, USA (2019) by Alia Shawkat
in Toronto, Canada (2019) by Laara Sadiq
in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2018) by Zhu Zhi-Ying
Originally performed
in Australia (2016-2019) by Nat Randall

Video Direction EO Gill & Anna Breckon
Camera Operation EO Gill
Lighting Design Amber Silk & Kayla Burrett
Sound Composition Nina Buchanan
Set Design FUTURE METHOD STUDIO
Original Hair & Makeup Design Sophie Roberts

Technical Manager Guillem Gelabert

Producer Jenny Vila (La Mecància)

Originally supported and presented by Next Wave in 2016.

European tour originally supported by Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Bitò Produccions (Girona), Festival Grec de Barcelona, Teatro Central (Sevilla).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS